cruise - Day 4 - Cozumel

This morning we got to port in Cozumel, Mexico.  We hurried off the ship and taxied over to the ferry, purchased a tour to Tulum (mayan ruins), then took a 45 minuted boat ride over to the mainland.  (Playa del Carmen)    There we met our tour guide and drove the 45 - 50 minutes out to Tulum.

while we were waiting for the ferry, we looked over the edge into the ocean and saw this amazing little squid/octopus dude.  (obviously, i don't know what he really is, but he was cool.)  We watched him scoot around for about 15 minuted minutes before he disappeared.

We aren't big Hard Rock Cafe people, didn't even go inside to tell the truth, but just in case you were wondering where the smallest one is... now you know!

I thought it was fun that that we saw so many nativities on this trip.  I would estimate we saw at least 2 or 3 ( or more) in each port of call.  Just big ones like these, in parks, along the side of the roads, etc...  I loved it and took pictures of several of them.

 TULUM...

we did NOT go up in a plane to get this shot, I borrowed the photo from this site: http://the-wanderling.com/tulum.html.  He had some interesting experiences about his visits to many of the mayan ruins as well, if you are interested...

Tulum is an ancient Mayan city, built overlooking the beautiful ocean below.  Not speaking Spanish, and not really used to listening to native Spanish speakers conduct a tour in English - I had a bit of a challenge understanding much of what was said, but i got enough that it was still interesting, and even if i hadn't understood ANY of it, it was incredible just to be there.  one day I would love to go back, except I want to be on my OWN time table, not the ship's or ferry's - because I would have loved to have more, MUCH more time there, to read all the plaques, climb down the many stairs down to the beach and take pictures from that direction, have time to wander through the more authentic Mayan shops, etc...

here we are, in front of a group of ruins in Tulum

a pretty shot that give you an idea of how the city was positioned over the ocean

look closely... can you see the Mayan dude giving you the evil eye? - no stone lion... (wink wink to all the members of USoSL's ) but still pretty cool!

our tour guide - can't tell you his name cause I never figured it our enough to make it stick in my memory.

the backside of El Castillo

being a huge fan of Captain Moroni (from the Book of Mormon), and all of the fortifications that are described, I  found it so interesting that this city was surrounded by thick walls, with only a few openings to get through.  This was the gate that we used to exit the city.  it was a good 12 - 16 feet thick (my best guess) and at least 10 feet tall.